11 Comprehensive Marketing Strategies, From Planning To Lead Generation. By Jason Delfos, President & Founder of Mad Group Consulting, Inc. IT’S TIME TO MOVE ABOVE THE NOISE WITH A POTENT MARKETING STRATEGY. Every year more competitors come into your space and make your marketing efforts more difficult. There is simply an overwhelming amount of noise in advertising and marketing. It’s too easy to be invisible, obscure, and even forgettable. Since most businesses can spend no more than 5% of their gross sales on marketing, it’s important to spend this budget wisely with a well-planned tactical approach. As you read through this step-by-step guide to marketing …

Are you part of the 77.6% of small businesses using social media for promotional purposes? Free platforms give you a cost-effective marketing strategy for your business, but posting without purpose makes your social media presence inconsistent. A social media marketing calendar gives you a framework for your content. It creates consistency and gives every post a purpose. It also makes better use of your time. If you’re not sure how to get started, follow these nine steps for creating a social media content calendar. 1. Identify Monthly Social Media Goals Every social media post needs a purpose to make it useful. Start your content calendar …

Wondering if video blogging is right for your business? Every day, YouTube users rack up more than 1 billion hours of video watch time. And every month, YouTube receives visits from over 2 billion logged-in users. Vlogging won’t instantly gain you millions of views, but it gives you a new avenue to reach potential customers in powerful ways. Producing videos helps you connect with customers in a more personal way. Keep reading to find out why you should consider video blogging to promote your business. 1. People Prefer Videos Consumers like watching videos over reading written content, and 54% of people want more video content …

SEO isn’t dead, despite the fact that hundreds of people look up the opposite every single month. In fact, SEO is thriving! If you look at the Google Trends graph, you can see that SEO searches have been trending upwards since 2004. While search engine searches about SEO aren’t as high as they were in 2016 and 2017, search engine optimization is even more important for website owners than it’s ever been. Consider the fact that 57% of B2B marketers state that SEO is their single most important lead generation tool. Or that 81% of consumers research a product before making a purchase.  It’s obvious …

Close your eyes and think of Coca Cola. Now think of Nike. Now try Apple. Those logos, colors, and images are probably vivid in your head. You might never have owned an Apple product or worn a pair of Nikes. But you know their style and logos without even thinking. That’s the power of branding. It’s more than just knowing a company though. The branding process is present at every level of a successful business and creates a cohesive, living brand that the audience can identify. Do you want your brand to be strong and clear from the start? Do you want people to immediately think …

The United States Small Business Administration (SBA) recommends that marketing managers allot between 7% and 8% of their company’s gross revenue toward advertising and outreach. That’s a substantial chunk of change, no matter how thick or thin your bottom line might be. That’s why it’s important to protect your investment and make sure it’s generating the kind of return you need to grow. While you could handle the work entirely in-house, chances are your teams are already stretched to capacity. That’s where marketing firms come in. Allowing a third-party agency to take the reigns on your campaigns could be the smartest move you make for your growing reasons. Join us …

It’s easy to think you can afford to let SEO sit on the back-burner. In reality, you can’t. The longer you wait to optimize, the harder it is to rank well. If you’re not focused on SEO, your competitors are. And there are more competitors popping up every day. There are nearly 2 billion websites. Your business doesn’t exist in a vacuum. The competitive business climate is fierce. Everyone wants the same thing — attention in a saturated digital world. Bad news aside, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. Hiring a local San Diego SEO expert is easy. They’ll do all the heavy lifting for …

Reading minds doesn’t seem to be as hard these days. Here’s how you can deliver an experience that leaves your audience feeling like you can read their mind. Showing empathy and a deep understanding of your readers may be the one thing that separates you from your competition. Now, you’re probably wondering how you can make that happen. It seems effortless for large corporations but you don’t have an expansive team and your marketing budget is basically non-existent. Don’t worry! EDM marketing is a cost-effective and efficient way to develop long-term relationships with your audience. Keep reading to learn more about EDM marketing, why it’s important, …

Defining your brand gives your company personality and a unique voice that makes people aware of your position in the marketplace. It creates differentiation in the marketplace and gives you more credibility and negotiating power. Brand development enables you to attract a specific set of customers that gravitate to your business because of the emotional connection they’ve made with the brand. But how do you begin developing a brand? Read on for a step-by-step guide on how to build your brand. Here are the top ten brand strategy tips for building a brand. What is Brand Development? Brand development was never meant to be created …

As a business owner, you may realize that digital marketing is one of the best ways to create revenue online. You’ve gone the DIY route, but your efforts aren’t converting to sales. You’re not even coming close to your business goals. And the process is so time-consuming. The hours you get to spend with your family or the things you enjoy doing most is almost non-existent. Perhaps you need to hire a digital marketing agency. But be careful about who you choose. Not all digital marketing agencies are equal. For an agency to be worth their salt– and achieve success for your business— they must …

Those of you not exploring small business video are missing out! Video is becoming the top content choice among many Internet users. So, it makes perfect sense why you’d want to explore video marketing. What better way to reach people than with a super engaging (and fun) format? Below, you’ll find some of our best tips, tricks, and strategies for making video work for your business. Follow these tips and you’ll see brand awareness, lead generation, and sales grow. 1. Learn the Basics, Make Mistakes, and Have Fun with Video Production The video format is one of the most enjoyable to explore. You get to …

A company can have a powerful message, perfect marketing tactics, and a solid advertising strategy, but without brand awareness—the margin for success is low. But what is brand awareness? Brand awareness is the exposure of your company/products and the unity between what’s being sold and how the consumers are engaging. It takes multiple impressions for a customer to engage in a company’s brand or message. And without a solid branding strategy, those impressions aren’t memorable, turning people away rather than keeping them interested. Over 89% of marketers say that branding is their top goal. With that percentage only increasing, it’s important to know what brand …

With over 1.5 billion websites on the web today, getting your website out there for others to see can seem next to impossible, especially if you’re just starting out. More specifically, ranking at the top of various search results on sites like Google can seem like a pipe dream, especially if your website is based around a competitive niche. Well, that’s where SEO comes into play. SEO, or search engine optimization, is the process of turning your website into a more search engine-friendly one. Mastering the art of SEO can seem complex at first, at least until you figure out what SEO is at its core. …

Eight out of ten businesses will fail. A huge contributing factor to failure is a lack of business strategy. There needs to be a strategy for every aspect of your business. Many business owners ignore their digital marketing strategy. Have you been shooting in the dark when it comes to digital marketing? Read on for our 11 top tips to boost your results in the digital landscape. Ready to Boost Your Digital Marketing Strategy? Here are our top eleven digital marketing strategies you can implement tomorrow. Make a Content Creation Schedule and Stick to It The number one marketing strategy is creating quality content. You …

4 in 5 consumers want to see paid ads that are specific to their city or local surroundings.  If you didn’t know this, then you might be failing at your SEO efforts. If that’s the case, then it’s okay! SEO can be a tricky thing to tackle as a business owner. That’s why it makes sense to contract the services of an SEO expert who can help you make sense of it all. From using the wrong kinds of keywords to writing low-quality and even publishing the wrong kinds of ads, here are the top SEO mistakes you need to avoid. What is SEO? Before …

When you think of big names in the industry, like McDonald’s, Nike, and Coca Cola, they all have one thing in common: they all have strong branding that’s instantly recognized by people all over the world. It may not seem apparent, but branding can be very instrumental in your marketing and can directly affect your sales. In this article, we’ll discuss what brand marketing is and how it can be beneficial for your business. What Is a Brand? First, let’s define what a brand is. On the surface, it may seem literal and similar to what cattle ranchers do with their “products.” For example, Domino’s pizza boxes look like …